Managing Virtual Machines using Microsoft Azure IaaS by David Papkin

This post by David Papkin is about Managing Virtual Machines using Microsoft Azure Infrastructure as a Service ( IAAS )

Virtual machines are the basis of Microsoft Azure and provide support for the platform’s implementation of Infrastructure as a Service ( IaaS ).

The Microsoft Azure Portal provides multiple, simple methods to create and manage virtual machines in the Microsoft public cloud. Using the Quick Create method, you can quickly create new virtual machines and go back later to set more configuration options. Using the From Gallery method, you can fully customize the virtual machine configuration before it is deployed into the physical region as a standalone or load balanced service. Microsoft Azure virtual machines scale in processor, memory, and storage, allowing you to create virtual machines with a large number of cores and memory, and data disks up to 1 TB in size. As an added benefit, you can easily move a virtual machine created in Microsoft Azure to Hyper-V and back since both use the same virtualized hardware and VHD format. This allows you to quickly reconfigure services on premise or redeploy to the public cloud to adjust to changing business conditions.

For IP address information, see Configure a Static Internal Address for a VM:http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=522631
For more information on installing and configuring Microsoft Azure PowerShell, see:
How to install and configure Azure PowerShellhttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=511717Remote Desktop Protocol
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) enables administrators to establish a graphical user interface session with an Azure virtual machine. The full and new portals provide a Connect Option that provisions a .rdp file, which can be downloaded and saved for initiating an RDP connection to the specified VM. The RDP endpoint is created by default when creating a new Windows VM, but can be removed if you do not wish to use RDP.

Note: It is possible to use RDP with Linux VMs, aslong as a GUI such as X desktop has been
installed on the VM; in such a scenario, you could then use an option such as xrdpto provide the RDP service on the Linux VM.

Secure SHell

The SSH endpoint is created by default when creating a Linux VM, even if you choose not to enable SSH itself during deployment.As well as the cross-platform management tools, there are several options that are available specifically for Windows VMs.

How to Use SSH with Linux on Azurehttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=511722Microsoft Azure PowerShell
An administrator must install the Azure PowerShell modules to start using the facilities. For more information on installing and configuring Microsoft Azure PowerShell, see:How to install and configure Azure PowerShellhttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=511717Remote Desktop Protocol
The full and new portals provide a Connect Option that provisions a .rdp file, which can be downloaded and saved for initiating an RDP connection to the specified VM. The RDP endpoint is created by default when creating a new Windows VM, but can be removed if you do not wish to use RDP.

Note: It is possible to use RDP with Linux VMs, aslong as a GUI such as X desktop has been
installed on the VM; in such a scenario, you could then use an option such as xrdpto provide the RDP service on the Linux VM.

Secure SHell
The SSH endpoint is created by default when creating a Linux VM, even if you choose not to enable SSH itself during deployment.